In what has became a staple film series in the Buffalo movie-going community, Thursday Night Terrors returns Thursday night for its seventh season at the Dipson Amherst Theatre with showings of Frank Henenlotter’s 1982 cult classic Basket Case.
This season’s lineup includes Demons 2, Demon Wind and a Halloween showing of The Lost Boys.
The series, which started over three years ago, is sticking to its formula of showing lesser-known horror movies once a month mixed in with a few classics.
One highly requested film Terrors host and programmer Peter Vullo gets is Gremlins. Bute said he is going a different direction this Christmas.
“You know, [Gremlins] has played around town. It’s a pretty regular movie appearing in theaters in the city. I guess I just wanted to play things you can’t see all the time in Buffalo and Black Christmas, I can’t remember that screening in Buffalo anytime recently,” he said.
It’s the first real Christmas themed film for Terrors. Vullo said he’s extremely excited for it.
“Back in the first season of Terrors, we played John Carpenter’s The Thing in December. It was a snow-covered night. It was just a beautiful feeling. You felt like you were one of those characters living in that movie just because of the cold and the snow,” he said.
In the past, Terrors has had themed events. With Carrie, many of the Terrors crew came in prom attire. Vullo is hoping to do something similar with Black Christmas.
“I’m hoping to have a Santa Claus there to take photos. Like a photo op opportunity. I’d like to do a blind gift exchange. I’d especially like to do a toy donation drive for kids,” Vullo said. “Just really make it more than a movie. Just like an event. Something I can look forward to and hopefully other people can look forward to. This is something that we put on the calendar and we look forward to it. That’s my goal. To make it something more than, oh let’s just rip these tickets and get them to their seats.”
Vullo said the success of Terrors has allowed him to diversify his programming.
“I didn’t expect to go this far of course, now season seven. So now I’ve been off the grid now, off my list for a while,” Vullo said. “But I definitively think about, ‘Well I want to save ‘X’ movie for in the future,’ So I don’t run out of those nice centerpiece movies. There’s a bunch of my favorites I haven’t played yet, so I’m waiting on them.”
Screenings start at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
